Last year, homecoming and winter break were right around the corner, recent alumni came to the school to see the place they couldn't wait to leave six months early. This is one of my favorite phenomena in high school teaching. Whether they're just homesick or really missing me, it's always nice to see their faces.
In the week between Thanksgiving and winter break, I received two visits, one from a student who works near the school and watches his brother, who will graduate this year, and another from a former student who is coming from Northwestern University over the holidays. . They both appeared sheepishly at my door, asked for a copy of the class reading, and joined my current students in annotating an excerpt from “Heavy” By Kiese Laymon.
The effect that his presence had in the space was palpable. When his older brother sat down and grabbed a highlighter, the little brother and all his friends took reading a little more seriously, including one student who offered to read aloud in his second language for the second time all year. When the Northwestern freshman excitedly shared how the excerpt we were reading related to that of Ta-Nehisi Coate. “Between the world and me”, my superiors nodded attentively before continuing with what she shared in the discussion. Both students circulated to visit their other favorite teachers with whom they had made solar ovens, tinctures of medicinal plants and built a banana museum. As they left the building, they hugged and greeted freshmen with whom they played soccer or participated in the student union when they were students.
It is these moments that make me realize that teaching has softened me. I cried both days that the alumni visited me, in part because I am so proud of the people they have become. Partly because this beautiful, imperfect school that helped raise them will no longer be a place they can return to.
Last month, the superintendent of the New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) and the Orleans Public School Board We decided to close our school. at the end of the academic year. With parental trust in public schools plummeting, schools in New Orleans and other major districts They are underrepresented.
As a result, NOPS was eager to close smaller schools it deemed low-performing, even though it is precisely these smaller schools with innovative models that are needed to provide a positive experience for students and families who have felt insufficiently supported by schools. larger and more traditional. institutions.
A test trap
I teach in New Orleans, the first American city to forcibly hand over all its public schools to private charter organizations. NOPS assigns charters to organizations to run one or several schools and then functions as the kind of parent who makes sure there is food in the house, but doesn't seem to notice you. unless you are doing it very well or very badly – and then praises or punishes you, respectively. As part of this system, NOPS periodically evaluates whether private organizations that operate public schools should be He was allowed to continue managing public funds.resources and future of children.
Accountability is fine, even welcome, but my problem lies in the fact that these charter renewal decisions, made by New Orleans' publicly elected school board and the superintendent they appointed, are largely based on school performance scores calculated by the state of Louisiana.
In particular, half the score of a high school It is calculated based on standardized testsa practice with racist origins which is well documented inaccurate, inequitable, ineffective and increasingly irrelevant. Recognizing the flaws of standardized testing, Louisiana expanded its evaluation matrix to include graduation data, specifically what percentage of students graduate on time, and a “diploma strength index,” which is based on which certifications, enrollment classes dual and other academic achievements of students. earned during his time in high school. These two measures come closest to actually assessing how a school impacts a student's life, although, like standardized tests, they often reflect much more about a student's life than just what happens at school.
If our school had a failing school by all of these metrics, I would be less upset about this result, but 95 percent of our score was calculated based on test scores. Louisiana Department of Education calculates graduation rate and strength of diploma metrics one year late so the state can verify the data. My school has only been open for four years, so last May our first class graduated.
Although 94 percent of our early learners, including all of our students in special education programming and 75 percent of our students who are English learners, an anomaly in the city and state — earned their diplomas last year, these achievements It won't be counted in our score until next year. Unfortunately for my school, this means that standardized tests account for almost all of our school performance scores, which happens to be the year the school board and superintendent used to decide if we should be allowed to continue educating children.
In two separate audiences, Living School students, alumni, family, staff and community partners They explained their problems with the calculations and pleaded with school board members to use their power to override the superintendent's recommendation and give us another year. At the second meeting, which was more of a wake than a hearing, we were not heard and the board ultimately voted to uphold the superintendent's recommendation to close our school.
How should we support struggling schools?
This story, like all New Orleans stories, is strongly shaped by our unique context, but its themes are resonated in schools across the country. I am heartbroken and furious that all the achievements my students and I have made in the face of great challenges are considered less important than the results of a handful of exams.
I know many teachers and students in the United States feel the same way. As our students face a rapidly changing world and teachers face the responsibility of preparing them for a world we cannot yet imagine, we must seriously consider the harmful impact Standardized testing continues to have an impact on students, teachers, and schools, despite growing evidence that these tests are not indicators of future success.
When schools like mine are punished for low test scores, it's hard not to believe that school systems aren't simply shifting the responsibility that should fall to them onto hard-working, low-income teachers and students.
Like most educators, I believe teachers and schools should be held accountable for how well they prepare their students, but just as I give them time to grow and develop, new charter schools like ours deserve the same time and support. .
As I write this, I am receiving text messages and emails from current and former students at my school and allies of our teachers union asking what they can do to fight for our school and the vibrant community we have built. Like me, you know that a school performance score calculated based on standardized tests is not a reasonable or important measure of the impact of the work we are doing together. Like me, you know that the value of our school community would best be measured by the personal growth my students demonstrate, the support of school staff and peers, and a culturally relevant curriculum. All of these things give me hope that our schools can and do prepare students for things more valuable than standardized testing, although none of them have earned my school performance points.
Shortly after being appointed to her position and moving to the city, NOPS Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams spoke with WWNO. In the interview, he stated that he asks all school district leaders three questions: What does “school quality” really mean? How are schools evaluated using a letter grade based primarily on test scores? And what does it look like to include culture and climate when it comes to accountability? If closing the Living School is Dr. Williams and the OPSB's response to these questions, I find them incoherent.
To tell teachers and schools that you want us to find innovative ways to serve all students and tell families that they have a choice in how their children are educated, only to close a school that offers that after a year of poor exam results, says the quiet part. out loud: We want schools to do better, but we won't change our systems to support those who try.